Speaker 1
So, welcome to your next chapter. We’re excited to be here this morning. My name is Saran Mattingly, and I am the Senior Living Specialist.

Speaker 1
And today, I am joined by Jan. Jan, hello. She is the founder of Age Friendly Vibes, and we’re grateful to have you here this morning.

Speaker 1
Hello.

Speaker 2
Great. Thank you. Glad to be here. Thank you.

Speaker 1
Yeah. So, tell us about yourself.

Speaker 2
Well, I live in Denver, Colorado, and I’m a creative entrepreneur at this point in my career. I have been in the tech field. I was a web developer in the tech field for my entire career.

Speaker 2
I still do that part-time. But in the past 10 years, I’ve been dabbling with side hustles, with creating training for iPhone users. And then most recently, I started a greeting card company that helps to promote age positivity.

Speaker 1
Very nice. Tell me about that. Tell me about Age Friendly Vibes. I love the name, by the way.

Speaker 2
Oh, great. Thank you. The idea is to just spread age positivity.

Speaker 2
Age Friendly Vibes is a stationary brand that the purpose is to put age positive messages out there in the world. and especially for people when they’re celebrating their birthday. So it’s to counteract all of the over the hill and I call them the damn your old cards.

Speaker 2
So I like to think of it as damn your hot as you get older instead of your old. So my purpose is just to counter all the negativity that’s out there, especially in the greeting card industry.

Speaker 1
Yeah, especially at your birthday. What is that?

Speaker 2
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1
to a party with over the hill and you know tombstones and all that stuff it’s uh it’s

Speaker 2
absolutely yeah exactly i don’t know who buys those cards that you know say things like you’re one year closer to the sweet release of death or it’s like happy birthday or you know you’ve got

Speaker 1
old women and all those things it’s like it’s i you know someone who’s about you know 60 i think in was the two years I’ll be turning 60. I feel fantastic, by the way. I mean, right, exactly.

Speaker 1
And so I don’t feel like, you know, I’m over the hill. I don’t feel like it’s time to go out to pasture. I don’t feel like it’s over. Yeah, exactly. Probably better now than I’ve ever felt.

Speaker 2
Right. And that’s the big myth. That’s the big disconnect. And, you know, that making you feel bad about getting old is really just a way to get to sell products honestly to sell you know between skin creams and potions to make you have a youthful you know appearance women are disproportionately affected by ageism which is discrimination against a person simply because of their age. And by the way, it works both ways. So younger people can be victims of ageism as well. So when you make it about age, it’s ageism. But as older adults, we’re impacted by societal ageism in a culture, you know, that values youth, especially when we’re trying to seek employment or stay employed in our field. It’s really prevalent there. It’s also very prevalent in healthcare in the way that we’re treated as we get older by the healthcare professionals.

Speaker 2
And most importantly, and the part that I’m the most passionate about is there’s some recent research out from Dr. Becca Levy, who’s a professor at Yale University that proves that people who feel old, who have self-deprecating humor about age, actually decrease their longevity by up to seven and a half years. So your mindset about aging actually shortens your lifespan by a significant amount. So that’s what I’m most passionate about is bringing awareness to people.

Speaker 2
You know, when we go back to thinking about your birthday and your loved ones, it’s like, you’re literally killing them with messages about how, how terrible it is to be all night. And you may see it as well but especially when you get to be 50 or 60 you’ve got you maybe know some people or maybe you’re that way yourself but you blame age and stop you know participating in yes you

Speaker 1
can’t do that yes yeah learning new things so that’s where ageism comes into play yeah and people tell you you’re too old for it too like yeah oh you know i’m gonna do this or that you know i’m like a little kid we went to the uh here in Connecticut we went to the yard goats game uh which is like a minor league baseball team and you know the mascot was there it’s it’s a goat they’re two goats it’s a girl and a guy and I ran over and my daughter hates this she was actually already in the seats so I got my picture taken I texted it to her she I knew she was she said my word I got that because you know I’m like a little kid when we went to Disney I mean when we saw Daisy and Donald and you know, Vampyra. And I’m telling you, I’m like a little kid. And I think I had the most kind of little kid fun at Disney than, than my family. Cause all the, my family members are in their teens or in terms of the kids are in their twenties. And, you know, my husband’s over 60.

Speaker 1
So it’s kind of like, but I enjoyed myself. I was excited to see Snow White, Cinderella, Minnie Mouse. And, you know, I think you’re right. I think, you know, people tell you you’re, you know, act your age, you know, and all this stuff. Why, you know, as long as I’m not doing anything, you know, harmful emotionally to someone because I’m acting immaturely, I think that’s different than just being a kid, you know, running through a, you know, you know, after it rains in the summer, how much fun is that? You know, that’s, that’s not being immature. That’s just being a kid at heart. And you’re right. I’m sure that would add to your, to your lifespan as well as your quality

Speaker 2
in life. Yeah, exactly. And I think we can all see people in our lives that have, are have lived a long time, and there’s, they’re healthy, and they’re vibrant, and they’ve lived a long, healthy, vibrant life. And one of the biggest things is, if you look back at those folks, most of the time, they’ve got a very positive outlook about age, you know, they, they look forward to getting older, they feel like it’s the best time of their life, they feel like they’re just getting started. So around how you feel about getting older, that has a huge impact on how we age. So that’s kind of the motivation behind my brand. And again, like you mentioned, especially when you’re celebrating a birthday, because it’s hard to not talk about age when you’re celebrating birthday, because that’s when you’re becoming a year older. And so it’s kind of an easy time to like, take a swing at somebody and make them feel bad about getting older. But my message is if you can actually either start a conversation about ageism or actually address age in a way that’s positive or gets somebody thinking, I think it’s an opportunity on their birthday to actually

Speaker 1
kind of, you know, have a positive impact on them. So, well, it is a celebration. Yeah. It’s not a funeral. It’s not a memorial service, but a lot of times as you get older, that’s what you kind of feel. I was just thinking, as you were talking about back in the day, For some reason, I’m thinking of like the gladiator movie or, or any of those types of things where, you know, karate kid, where getting older, you know, it’s, you’re, it’s wisdom.

Speaker 1
It’s like go to the older adults for wisdom. You know, even that movie with Mama Coco, it’s a cartoon, you know, you know, you know, it’s like when you’re older, you’re seen as someone, you know, you know, go to the sages, go to the mountains, or even the wizard of Oz, you know, older person. And for some reason, like you said, and I know you had written in your blog, like, you know, in America, it just seems as though, you know, getting old is like, you know, you just have to try to stay young.

Speaker 1
As opposed to embracing age and embracing the beauty of that, you know, and just like I said, for me, getting older has been awesome. You know, the wisdom that I have and the calmness and the ability not to say everything that comes into my mind is amazing. And that comes with age. And so I think, you know, here at the community, we have several people who are in their 90s and over 100.

Speaker 1
We have a gentleman that just moved in who wrote a book and he’s out there promoting it. know, and he was in World War II and it’s just like, you know, that’s the way it should be, you know, you know, we have people here that people always ask me, well, how old are the people there? You know, it’s a senior living community, but it’s like, you know, even though those, we do have people here who are younger in their, you know, fifties and sixties and so forth, but we have people in their sevens and eighties, nineties and a hundreds that are probably more vibrant than some of the people that are in their fifties and sixties. Sometimes, like you said, we give up it’s just like oh i’m too old for that or you know you know that’s for young people and you know as opposed to you know going forward and you know there was someone on um uh american ninja warriors now i’m disclosing my my little secrets of what i watch on tv but you know she was in her 70s and she made a record a world record you know that’s the first time they had someone that age Now, granted, she didn’t get past the first obstacle, but so what?

Speaker 1
She still, you know, she showed up. She still, you know, she, you know, she still did her part. And it’s amazing to see that, you know, see someone in their 70s, you know, kind of trying to, you know, doing something, going for it for something that people as little as 10 years old are competing.

Speaker 1
Right.

Speaker 2
Exactly. Yeah. She just proves that your age doesn’t matter really. And when it comes to that, if you want to do something like that, you can certainly do it. So I agree.

Speaker 1
And we always talk about, you know, our slogan is your next chapter. And, you know, I love that because we truly mean that, you know, you know, I come from the hospice world and, you know, I always talk to people, you know, now because I came from hospice and I have someone who has someone who’s passing away. I try to give them advice and I always tell them, you know, there’s quality death.

Speaker 1
That’s part of your journey. Death doesn’t have to be, if, you know, if you have the opportunity and you’re, you know, death doesn’t have to be something horrible. It doesn’t have to be something ugly.

Speaker 1
We, you know, in hospice, we always talked about a good death because, you know, that’s part of your journey. And if you’re still here and you’re in your nineties or a hundred, and maybe you can’t do all the things because maybe you do have some physical limitations that you were able to do. But if you’re still here and you have your mind and, you know, keep going, keep, keep finding ways to keep living.

Speaker 1
And I love that what you’re doing is facilitating that. It’s inspirational. You know, we have our store here, which we were talking about offline.

Speaker 1
And I definitely want to get your products in our store, you know. So when we’re getting birthday cards, we’re not giving the tombstone or the, what was it, the far side, you know. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1
Or the Grim Reaper. Yeah, exactly. I’m not there yet, you know.

Speaker 1
And if I’m still here, then my journey is continuing. And I think that’s, you know, that’s kind of your kind of your message. I really were talking about your blog or the case for age, positivity, positivity and greeting cards.

Speaker 1
And I think what you’re doing is is is definitely an amazing, an amazing thing. How can we be a part of the solution? I mean, I know I work here in a senior living community.

Speaker 1
So, you know, I feel like I can do my part. But out there, you know, how can a young person or an old person or somewhere in the middle? you know what can I know you said the conversation but what else can we do to kind of yeah I think

Speaker 2
healthy healthy right message you know well I think when we encounter first of all it’s being aware that ageism is harmful and especially when it comes to birthdays just stop with the can’t you take a joke or it’s just a joke because the thing about a birthday card on a greedy card shelf that is now declaring you old is that it’s not just an inside joke between you and your bestie. You know, you might think, oh, that’s funny. That’d be great for my sister or for my whatever, you know, that is a message about getting old is bad. That’s put out there into the universe that your potential hiring boss is seeing, you know, your potential medical professional, or more importantly, the marketing exec or people that create the content that just keeps perpetuating that message. So first of all, it’s just stop doing the you can’t take a joke as an excuse for that, that type of humor, and instead use it as an opportunity to basically say, actually, life gets better as you get older, and I’m enjoying the age that I am. And I think you should look forward to becoming older as well. I think that when you educate younger people about the harmful impacts of ageism they get it almost immediately you know they understand that and they they just say wow I had no idea you know because I thought it was funny or you know whatever to make fun of people that are getting older so I think it’s education and then speaking up when somebody either says something to you that’s ageist you know there’s a lot of comments that happen one of the most common ones is the you look great for your age oh my gosh it’s like you’re we’re

Speaker 1
channeling each other that is exactly that was going to be my next comment yeah that is like

Speaker 2
the worst thing that someone can say you know it’s yeah and one of the best one of the best all-time comebacks comes from ashton applewhite from this chair rocks and in her book she says to throw it back on the person and say well you look great for your age too you know but you can further, you know, go on to say, so what does this age look like? You know, so what, you know, then you could not be more different as a six-year-old. There’s so many life experiences, so many physical changes that happen in our bodies. There’s so many changes. So if you, they say, if you’ve seen one six-year-old, you’ve seen one six-year-old. If you think of like an 18 year old, most of them are in a similar phase in life. Most of them are, you know, in a physical, similar, like developmental cycle or whatnot. But so there, there’s just no way that people, you know, there, people treats people over 60 or over 50, all the same, but we couldn’t be more different. So I think that’s just the most important thing is a realization. And then secondly, is to just, you know, use it as a launching point for a conversation about how you feel about getting

Speaker 1
yeah yeah I think you’re I think you’re right I think um you know educating um the younger generation so that when they get to be my age or what have you they don’t like you said that

Speaker 2
getting older is a gift you know yeah exactly go through various cycles and it’s like and and I

Speaker 1
like the idea like what we do here is we have a lot of volunteers for stuff like I have now like which I’m so excited I have one of the residents who’s volunteering to help me with the marketing there’s just so much knowledge there. And I think we leave that on the table and we don’t benefit from the knowledge of our older adults. Yeah, you know, sitting out here talking to, you know, asking advice. I used to years ago, I worked at a another community. I remember sitting outside and I was young, married, you know, and I used to ask the guys advice and they used to give me advice. And it was just, but it was great. It’s like, you know, they know they were married. They, They, you know, they know, they understand, you know, the mind of a man.

Speaker 1
And it was great. It was like, this is this is my little, you know, my little group of mentors here. So it was it was good. And I, you know, took advantage of their age and their wisdom, you know, as opposed to as opposed to that.

Speaker 1
What are your plans for your company going forward? Like, you know, are you going to I see, in my opinion, out there speaking engagements. I know you did some speaking at a conference recently for greeting cards.

Speaker 1
I really think you need to get out there.

Speaker 2
Yeah, so I really have a two-pronged approach to what I’m doing. And I am just getting started. My business is two years old.

Speaker 2
I’ve gotten myself up to speed in the greeting card industry. I’ve got a lot of makers and peers of mine that I’ve been able to educate about ageism. and I’m starting to see other makers start to make more age positive cards and take down those cards that are offensive from an age perspective. So that’s very satisfying. I recently sold a card to Barnes and Noble and paper source. I can show you it’s this one that says age is just a number

Speaker 1
of years you’ve been loved. So nice. Yeah. It’s in the Barnes and Noble and paper source across

Speaker 2
the country. So in over 750 stores, so you should see more age positivity and you’re starting to see more age positivity on the shelf. There’s still ages cards making fun of getting older, but if you look, you can find cards that are a little, little bit more on the age positive side. So that’s pretty exciting. And I’ve also been working in the senior living communities. I do a series of like stickers and buttons that promote age positivity. Like this one says, love your future self. Nice. And that’s also been a really popular type of message to get out there. So that’s just reminding people that, you know, your future is, is bright, you know. And so I’ve been working on education and awareness within the senior living community and spaces. And as you know, there’s a lot, it’s a very large industry. I’m working with Area Agency on Aging organizations to help get, you know, age positive messages out to their organizations. So, you know, greeting card is a different thing because it’s a personal exchange from one person to another. And it’s very occasion related, like for your birthday or, you know, retirement or something like that. But the stickers are really little mini billboards about age positivity. And so those are equally as important to get out there in the world. If you I think of movements surrounding the feminist movement or Black Lives Matter, any other social causes, and the amount of, I call it swag, you see people wearing a t-shirt or a hat or stickers or buttons promoting their cause, and we just don’t do that for ageism.

Speaker 2
So that’s the other part that I’m working on is just getting more swag out there so people can actually promote these messages to anybody that they come in contact with.

Speaker 1
So, yeah, I think that I think that sounds great. I was going to say I lost my train of thought because you were saying so much, so much great stuff. But I would love to have you come to our senior living community and definitely speak for sure. I think. Yeah, that’s great.

Speaker 2
I think the speaking part is just really more about bringing awareness to ageism and not only in our community, in our society, but within ourselves. And so I think when people stop and think about that, then they stop telling themselves they’re old for a minute or just stop themselves for a minute and think, oh, it’s probably not a good idea for me to do that because of that longevity component that I was mentioning. And then again, just giving people concrete things that they can do when they’re out and about in the world to help not only with their own mindset about aging, but to their loved ones, to those that they come in contact with.

Speaker 1
So, yeah, I know what I was going to tell you. I think you should get out to the party stores.

Speaker 2
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1
Yeah. Oh, my gosh. There’s like whole aisles of like over the hill and all that.

Speaker 1
Yeah. I don’t want to name any names, but it definitely is a national chain. But I definitely think, you know, you should get out there and create maybe, you know, banners and, you know, to replace.

Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, like a whole party line. So, you know, because we don’t have an alternative at this point.

Speaker 1
We have that stuff. Right. Do a whole aisle of, you know, positive stuff, which I think I would do.

Speaker 1
And do it. At least do it in the next two years.

Speaker 2
Yeah, exactly. There’s a lot of opportunity.

Speaker 1
You know what I feel?

Speaker 2
Yeah, there’s a lot of opportunity. as well, like as you mentioned, to spread age positivity on birthdays. So I’m pretty new, kind of leading edge and leading the charge on all this and happy to be doing that. It’s going to take more than just me. So that’s why I’m trying to encourage my peers that are makers to get more age positivity out there as well, because it really does take all of us to become aware of this.

Speaker 1
Definitely. And your timing is so perfect, because obviously the world has kind of shifted. Even if you look at your Dove commercials, your Old Navy commercials, they’re showing everybody.

Speaker 1
It’s not all walks of life. It’s no longer, you know, which is nothing wrong with it. The beautiful person looks perfect.

Speaker 1
It’s everybody. So your time couldn’t be more perfect. And having this message get out there.

Speaker 1
How do we get your products? How do we learn more about you? How do we get in touch with you if someone wants to have you come and speak?

Speaker 1
Me first, though.

Speaker 2
So you can find me on age friendly vibes everywhere. So my website is age friendly vibes.com. I’m really active on Instagram because we’re, you know, I have a visual product and that’s where other card makers are. So I need to be right to fold there.

Speaker 1
Yeah.

Speaker 2
I’m active on LinkedIn as well with pro aging, you know, movement and community around there. I do have a Facebook page as well under Age Friendly Vibes. So yeah.

Speaker 2
And then my email is simplestjustjan at agefriendlyvibes.com. So anybody can just email me at any time and, you know, just kind of let me know, you know, if you have any, any opportunities to speak or if you, you know, want to help distribute products. I have an affiliate program as well.

Speaker 2
So if you promote my products, you can get a little kickback on commission. We just want to, you know, create a birthday card stash of your own that’s got more age positive options in it. I’m there for that as well. So, yeah.

Speaker 1
Well, I definitely think the folks here, like I said, I want to get your stuff in our store. I definitely it’s going to be a hit for sure. And we’ll talk more about that offline because I, you know, this is the perfect place for you to be because these guys are constantly birthdays. And I think actually for our birthday luncheon as well. What a great card to get.

Speaker 2
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1
Yeah, I think that’s awesome. So we have a lot of opportunity. So great to meet you.

Speaker 1
Yes. You know, and I look forward to our future communications. We have been talking with Jan Golden from Ange Friendly Vibes on your next chapter.

Speaker 1
And we’ll see you next time. Thank you.

Speaker 2
Thank you.